ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda addresses a press conference in the Ugandan capital city of Kampala, February 27, 2015

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected Israel’s claims that the court may carry out a biased investigation into the Tel Aviv regime’s war crimes during its devastating military aggression against the Gaza Strip last summer.ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told Israel’s Haaretz newspaper on Friday that The Hague-based court will launch an “unbiased” inquiry into the case.

The court will consider evidence brought by Palestinians against Israel “independently and impartially without fear or favor,” Bensouda said, adding that her “office will be guided by a policy of investigating and prosecuting those most responsible for the commission of mass crimes.”The Israeli regime launched a 50-day deadly war on Gaza last summer that ended in August 2014 with a truce. The aggression left about 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, dead and over 11,100 others injured.In April, Palestinians formally joined the ICC, a membership that enabled them to bring war crimes charges against Israeli officials.Tel Aviv reportedly claims that institutions like the ICC are biased against Israel and thus prone to unfairly target the regime. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the regime will not allow the Israeli soldiers to appear at the ICC and face potential war crime charges.Joining the ICC also opens up the possibility for Palestinians to challenge Tel Aviv’s illegal settlement expansion in the occupied territories besides taking the regime to task for its war crimes during the 2014 military aggression against the Gaza Strip.In January, the ICC opened a preliminary examination into Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister, however, denounced ICC’s decision as “absurd,” claiming that the move runs against the international law.Manchester Jews' anger at Israel

This is while the Manchester Jews for Justice for Palestinians recently censured Israel for its war crimes against Palestinians and its continued occupation of their lands.“It is well known how Israel has expelled the Palestinian population from their land and enforced a systematic, military and illegal occupation against those that remain,” said the pro-Palestinian group.It also lashed out at the British government over its complicity in Israeli war crimes against Palestinians through exporting weapons to Tel Aviv.“We deplore the UK’s complicity in Israeli war crimes, most recently the massacres and destruction of homes and livelihoods in Gaza last summer,” the group said in an open letter published on the blog Mondoweiss.

In November 2014, figures seen by the British daily The Independent revealed that the UK approved the sale of arms to Israel worth £7 million (USD10.5 million) in the six months before its deadly onslaught on Gaza.

Fatou Bensouda tells Haaretz that 'it is in the interests of both Palestine and Israel to cooperate' in International Criminal Court's probe into Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Fatou Bensouda, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, told Haaretz that if she decides to open an investigation of war crimes committed in the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli soldiers of low- and middle-rank potentially could be investigated for the purpose of “bringing stronger cases against those most responsible.” However, Bensouda emphasized that the court is now only examining whether such an investigation is warranted, and that if there is a decision to go forward with one, the investigation “will of course look into the alleged crimes committed by all sides to the conflict” beginning in June 2014, the eve of Operation Protective Edge. In an exclusive interview conducted with Haaretz by email and completed Tuesday, Bensouda was asked whether the ICC’s strategic plan to investigate lower- and mid-level operatives means that every Israeli soldier who ever served in the West Bank and Gaza should be worried. “If an investigation is opened in any given situation, my office will be guided by a policy of investigating and prosecuting those most responsible for the commission of mass crimes,” Bensouda wrote. “That is the general rule. In accordance with my office’s new strategic plan, where appropriate, we may indeed investigate and prosecute notorious perpetrators whose conduct has been particularly egregious or a number of lower- or mid-level perpetrators, building upwards, and thereby bringing stronger cases against those most responsible." How will you deal with the fact that the Israeli-Palestinian case is a political “hot potato”? “While I am fully cognizant of the political complexities of this lingering conflict, mine is a legal mandate. All I can and will do is to apply the law in strict conformity with the Rome Statute [of the International Criminal Court], with full independence and impartiality as I have done with all our cases and situations to date. We operate in a highly political world where we will face reactions to the decisions we take based on our legal mandate. "Let me reassure you that as prosecutor, political considerations have never, and will never form any part of my decision making. My duty firmly remains to simply apply the law to whatever situation is before the court.” Israelis are very concerned with what they consider anti-Israel bias in international institutions. How would you assure the Israelis no such bias exists in the work of the ICC? “As prosecutor of the ICC, I execute my mandate in accordance with the Rome Statute; independently and impartially without fear or favor. ... Our treatment of the situation in Palestine will be no different.” “International humanitarian law and international criminal law are not designed to handicap national defense, but to ensure that conduct of hostilities and methods and means of warfare used by warring parties to an armed conflict are legal and regulated to minimize suffering, in particular among civilians, and to deter mass crimes through investigations and prosecutions. As such, international law and national defense are not antagonistic; on the contrary, the former reinforces the latter. “At this stage, we are not investigating, as a decision on whether to open an investigation in the situation of Palestine has not been made. Rather we are conducting what we call in our parlance a preliminary examination over alleged crimes committed in Palestine. In January of this year, as you know, Palestine accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC for acts committed on its territory or by its nationals since June 2014. In the course of the preliminary examination, we will gather and assess information received from reliable sources from all sides, including from Israel, on alleged crimes committed by any party to the conflict. “A preliminary examination is not an investigation. The purpose of a preliminary examination is to determine whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation. This requires an examination of jurisdiction, national proceedings, complementarity [the principle under which the ICC has no jurisdiction if the case is being genuinely investigated or prosecuted by a state that has jurisdiction over the case – A.G.], the gravity of the alleged crimes, and the interests of justice. There are no timelines provided in the Rome Statute for a decision on a preliminary examination. “We will of course look into the alleged crimes committed by all sides to the conflict. I have made this clear to both Israeli and Palestinians officials. Will investigations conducted within the Israeli army itself be considered as fulfilling the complimentary requirement? “Complementarity is one of the core principles of the Rome Statute system. Under this system, national authorities of the Court’s 123 States Parties form the first line of defense to address mass crimes. They shoulder the primary responsibility for the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators of these crimes, through individual efforts and through mutual support. In the event that the State is unwilling or unable genuinely to conduct national investigations and prosecutions, the Rome Statute authorizes the ICC to step in, counting on the full support and cooperation of the ICC States Parties. "The relationship between the Office of the Prosecutor and national prosecuting authorities – whether civilian or military – is not adversarial. On the contrary, it is complementary. The role of the Office is not to challenge the work of national investigators and prosecutors; it supports their work as long as it is genuine and meets other requirements stipulated by the Rome Statute. This is one of the major strengths of the system: its capacity to contribute to the fight against impunity either directly through the Court’s proceedings or by incentivizing and mobilizing action at the national level, through its preliminary examinations and investigations. "During the course of this preliminary examination, any information given by the Israel and Palestinian governments related to complementarity efforts will be evaluated in order to determine whether nationals investigations and prosecutions are genuine, and bearing in mind the Office’s policy of focusing investigative efforts on those most responsible for the most serious crimes. The Office will also consider information gathered from other reliable sources, as well as open sources, in assessing complementarity.“ Here Bensouda refers me to her office’s Policy Paper on the topic, which emphasized that in assessing complementarity her office will examine whether there are or have been any relevant national investigations or prosecutions, whether such proceedings relate to potential cases being examined by the Office and in particular, whether the focus is on those most responsible for the most serious crimes committed. If so, the Office shall then assess whether such national proceedings are vitiated by an unwillingness or inability to genuinely carry out the proceedings. Proceedings which are being undertaken for the purpose of shielding the person concerned from criminal responsibility for crimes within the ICC jurisdiction may be indicative of unwillingness to investigate or prosecute genuinely. What about the Israeli argument that Palestine is not a state so it cannot confer jurisdiction? “On the issue of statehood, the Office of the Prosecutor considers that since Palestine was granted observer state status by the United Nations General Assembly in November 2012, it must be considered a ‘state’ for the purposes of accession to the Rome Statute. “For the Office, the focus of the inquiry into Palestine's ability to accede to the Rome Statute has consistently been the question of Palestine's status in the UN, given the United Nations Secretary General’s role as treaty depositary of the Statute”. How will your office cope with expected lack of cooperation on behalf of Israel? “We trust that all the state parties will continue to fully cooperate with the court. The preliminary examination process will proceed on the basis of available reliable information. We will be looking at all credible and reliable sources of information. "Cooperation, in particular, from the parties most directly concerned in the situation – Palestine and Israel – will assist my office in arriving at a fully informed decision at the end of the preliminary examination process. It is in the interests of both Palestine and Israel to fully cooperate with my office’s preliminary examination into the situation. “ Will the Israel/Palestine case be one you find attractive as it does not deal with yet another African country on one hand, and not with a Security Council permanent member? Or will Israel’s ties with the United States make it seem too risky to deal with this case? “We should guard against politicizing the court’s proceedings. Justice is not a pick and choose system. The ICC’s every decision and action, in every instance is applied in strict accordance with the legal framework of the Rome Statute. We independently and impartially apply the law without distinction, fear or favor, and we follow the mandate that has been given to us under the Statute. “Our decisions on whether or not to conduct preliminary examinations or to open an investigation are not governed by regional or geographic considerations, but merely by our jurisdiction. In addition to our active cases in Africa, my office is also conducting preliminary examinations on four different continents – including in Ukraine, Honduras, Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia, Georgia and now Palestine. Again, my office acts strictly within the four corners of the Rome Statute and undertakes its mandate without fear or favor. Any other interpretation of why, when or where we act betrays a lack of understanding of the court’s legal framework and jurisdiction. “ Bensouda's formative years “We all have those moments in our lives; those decisive moments that leave a mark and help us determine our trajectory in life,” said Bensouda when asked how her background had influenced her life choices. “I am reminded of my formative years, when I served as a clerk in the courts of my native home, Gambia. “As a young girl, I recall witnessing countless courageous women who were victims of rape as well as other forms of sexual and domestic violence relive their ordeals through the Gambian court system; their agony and suffering in the face of a judicial system and indeed society, which could not fully afford them the protective embrace of the law, are still vivid and etched in my memory. To this day, their plight and cries of injustice are one of the driving forces behind my firm commitment to the pursuit of justice. “I knew from that moment that I desired, indeed that I had a duty to represent such women,” Bensouda said. “I knew from that moment that through the vector of the law, vulnerable groups in society and those whose rights have been trampled upon can and must be protected and afforded a measure of justice.” Bensouda’s conviction that the law could be a tool of justice was bolstered during her stint at the special international criminal tribunal established in the wake of the Rwandan genocide, prior to her appointment as deputy prosecutor of the ICC and then, in 2012, as its prosecutor. “My work [there] exposed me to the horrors that unfolded in Rwanda, including the mass rapes and murder of women as part of a deliberate campaign, as well as the unspeakable violence perpetrated against fellow human beings. What transpired in Rwanda in 1994 is in one of modern history’s most violent acts of criminality and mass murder.” Bensouda said the Rwandan genocide left a permanent scar on the conscience of humanity, and that the world can no longer remain silent in the face of such atrocities. “As prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, I have done my best and will continue to do whatever I can to help restore dignity to the shattered lives of victims of atrocities and to give breath to our common yearning for the international rule of law and international criminal justice, applied independently and impartially. My challenge and focus, is to bring justice to victims and to prevent future crimes that shock the conscience of humanity.” But the road to realizing these goals isn’t easy. “At the outset, it must be stressed,” Bensouda said, “that international criminal investigations and prosecutions are much more complex and face different challenges than those experienced at the national level. There are many reasons for this, not the least because we operate in live conflict or post-conflict situations. “Additionally, we have an important statutory duty to protect people who would be at risk due to their interaction with the court. We, therefore, carefully strategize and reflect on how we can collect reliable information and evidence in a manner that doesn’t expose people in a way that we can’t manage.” “Cooperation,” she emphasized, “is a key element. ICC has no police force or enforcement body. We rely on states to implement court decisions and to support our work. We need effective and timely cooperation from states, parties and others, for example to execute arrest warrants issued by the court, and to respond to our requests for assistance. To be meaningful, cooperation has to be timely and tangible; this is what we ask of states.” “By nature of our activities,” she added, “the risk of politicization and misperceptions about the court will always remain a challenge. There is a continuous need to shield the Court from politicization at both the national and international levels. The court has to be allowed to carry out its mandate impartially and independently, without fear or favor. It is our collective duty to enhance understanding of the role and mandate of the court. I continue to seek to increase my Office’s engagement with all regions of the world, to explain and correct any misperceptions about the court. “We must indeed remain unwavering in our resolve to create a world that seeks justice for atrocity crimes, universally and blindly applied. Awareness and increased support for the court are important contributions towards this goal. “We cannot do this alone. States, civil society, lawyers’ associations, and of course, the media all have a crucial role to play in this regard.”

Testimonies from three Golani soldiers charged with stealing $605 from home in Saja'iyya reveal they used Namer APC, sent to evacuate wounded, to take money out of neighborhood.Testimonies of three Golani soldiers accused of stealing NIS 2,420 (roughly $605) from a home in Gaza City's Saja'iyya neighborhood during Operation Protective Edge showed Thursday that the soldiers had planned on using the stolen money to fund a social event for the unit's soldiers after the war ended.

"We agreed we would each take NIS 180. We talked about it after we left Gaza, and said that if something happened, everyone would take responsibility," said Staff Sergeant D. from Golani Brigade's 51st Battalion, one of the three soldiers accused of looting cash from a Palestinian home. Last week, an indictment was filed against the three Golani soldiers at Haifa Military Court. The Saja'iyya neighborhood is considered to be one of Gaza's most dangerous neighborhoods, and where the IDF suffered the most casualties during the operation. The incidents detailed in the indictment refer to soldiers serving in the Golani 51st Battalion, who the indictment says stole money, prayer beads and keffiyehs during their searches of the neighborhood. The home from which the soldiers stole the cash was later hit by an anti-tank missile, wounding several soldiers. Detailing the system the soldiers used to loot the homes, Staff Sergeant D said: "We entered a home in Saja'iyya at 4 am on Saturday night, and began searching for weapons. We had to block the windows to protect us from gunfire, using beds and furniture to do so. Another soldier and I moved the closet to block a window when a box fell out of the closet.

He opened it and we saw money, about NIS 2,400. He gave me the money and I put it in my trouser pocket. I wasn't thinking about anything at that moment." Several hours later, the incident took a potentially deadly turn when a missile was fired at the home.

"The house was filled with smoke and fire, including the room where we had been. Some of the soldiers suffered from smoke inhalation and we had to evacuate them using a Namer APC. I gave the money to the driver and we took the wounded to Nahal Oz. I saw another soldier there, and took the money from the driver and gave it to a soldier in Nahal Oz – and then we returned to Saja'iyya." The defendant also admitted to stealing other items from different homes in the neighborhood. "We went to other homes in Saja'iyya, and some of them contained prayer beads and keffiyehs. We took some of them and played with them, but I don't remember how many I took because they got mixed together with my grandfather's prayer beads, but it was a small number," he said, adding that he also took "two keffiyehs". The soldiers' testimonies reveal that they had taken cash from other homes as well, but returned it after feeling guilty. Those involved in the case said they intended to use the money to pay for a social gathering after the war ended.

Israeli forces, on Wednesday, demolished a Palestinian-owned structure used for raising livestock in Rujeib village, to the south of Nablus, according to a local activist.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors the construction of Israeli settler units in northern West Bank, said that large Israeli forces, accompanied by a bulldozer, cordoned off the structure belonging to ‘Ala Riad and proceeded to demolish it.

WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency reports that data from the Rujeib village profile prepared by the Applied Institute of Jerusalem indicate that the village occupied a total area of about 4,918 dunams, including 1,449 of arable land and 438 within residential area.

The village is famous for the cultivation of olive trees, cereals, especially wheat. The economy of the village is mainly dependent on the agricultural sector, which absorbs 40% of the total workforce. About half of the villagers also rear livestock, like cows and sheep among others.

Following the 1993 Oslo Accords, the village was divided into Area B and Area C, constituting 28% and 72% respectively of the total village area. The villagers, who are concentrated in Area B, are prohibited from building and managing their lands in Area C unless they are authorized by Israeli authorities.

Israel has seized hundreds of dunams belonging to the villagers for the construction of settlements, military bases and by-pass roads. A total of 169 dunams has been seized for the construction of ‘Itamar’ settlement, located on the south-eastern side of the village.

Founded in 1984 and containing approximately 3,564 Israeli settlers, ‘Itamar’ occupies an area of approximately 1,181 dunams. It is also partially built on the territory of the neighboring villages of ‘Awarta, Beit Furik, and Yanun neighboring villages.

Israeli authorities have also seized 3,000 dunams from Rujeib, ‘Awarta, Beit Furik, Yanun and Aqraba village lands for ‘Itamar’ settlement and the adjacent settlement outposts in order to create a barrier between the Palestinian villages and this settlement. Most of these isolated lands are agricultural and an important source of income for the residents of the aforementioned Palestinian villages.

Israel has seized more tracts of land to the south and east of Rujeib for the construction of a new Israeli bypass road linking which links between Huwwara checkpoint and “Elon Moreh” settlement. The length of this road extends approximately 2km onto the village territory of Rujeib, and separates it from Beit Furik neighboring village, that I located near the village on the east.

The settlements are in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which establishes that the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies. The Security Council, the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council and the International Court of Justice have all confirmed that the construction and expansion of Israeli settlements and other settlement-related activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal under international law.

44 displaced persons killed, 227 injured Attacks to be considered of "extreme severity toward those who looked to them for protection and sought refuge and were granted shelter there, had their hope and trust denied”, according to a recent statement by the United Nations.

A UN girl's school was hit 88 times by mortar shells; another was torn by an anti-tank missile.

PNN reports that the investigation of the United Nations on "Operation Protective Edge", launched by Israel against the Gaza Strip last summer, is revealing its first accusations against the Israeli army.

The first major Israeli airstrikes in the region began as early as June of 2014.

The first results of the independent UN commission, headed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, investigating on 10 incidents during the 50 days of the operation, led Israeli military prosecutors to put under investigation three soldiers accused of robberies against Palestinians.

"Two soldiers - said a statement released yesterday by the Israeli army - are accused of looting of money in the amount of 2,420 shekels ($ 620, € 565) from a building in Al Shuja'eyya [one of the areas destroyed by the bombing] where the troops were stationed, and another is accused of aiding and abetting the crime."

In addition to this indictment, which is looked into by Tel Aviv military prosecution, the UN report highlights other crimes committed by the Israeli army.

The investigation's accusation is that the troops under orders from Tel Aviv have conducted seven deadly attacks against UN structures used as shelter by the population fleeing the bombing. In the raid on UN schools, as stated in the investigation, 44 people died and 227 were injured.

Investigations have revealed also some crimes committed by Palestinian resistance fighters, who reportedly hid weapons in three of the seven UN schools damaged by bombing, thought by the armies to be abandoned.

In two cases, moreover, the commission ruled that the Palestinian armed factions have "probably" fired at Israeli forces from the same schools. Although the facilities were not used as evacuation centers, Ban Ki-Moon has called these actions "unacceptable". The full report is to be published, with 207 pages of recommendations.

IDF say two soldiers indicted on suspicion they took about $605 from Palestinian's home in Gaza, while another accused of helping them during summer war with Hamas; additional cases of wrongful death of Palestinian being probed by IDF. Three Golani soldiers have been accused on Sunday of stealing NIS 2,420 (roughly $605) from a home they took over in Gaza City's Saja'iyya neighborhood during Operation Protective Edge last summer.The military said it tried to find the owner of the building and that the alleged looting took place in an area that saw some of the heaviest fighting in the 50-day Operation Protective Edge. Two of three, who were removed from their combat positions after the theft was discovered during the operation, have also been indicted by the Military Prosecutor for obstruction of justice. The indictment was filed at the Haifa Military Court last week. During the investigation, the Military Prosecutor's Office tried unsuccessfully to recruit one of the accused as a state witness, a move that later turned out to be unnecessary.

The soldiers' commanders learned of the theft shortly after it occurred, and the battalion commander was quick to report the crime to military police. The stolen money was returned.

Black FridayThe Military Prosecutor's Office is still examining cases in which innocent civilian Palestinians were killed from IDF fire during the operation, and Chief Military Advocate General Danny Efroni is expected to decide whether to open criminal investigations into the incidents. The most controversial case on Efroni's desk is the fighting on "Rafah's Black Friday" on August 1, 2014, when the IDF bombarded Rafah after a Hamas cell violated a humanitarian ceasefire, killing three soldiers and seizing the body of one of them - Hadar Goldin. The Palestinians first claimed 150 people were killed in IDF bombardments that day and later amended the number to some 70. An IDF investigation found only about 40, roughly half of them armed terrorists.Army officials said it is unlikely a criminal investigation will be launched against Givati commanders leading the fighting in Rafah, noting the firepower used was proportional and appropriate to the severity of the incident.

Meanwhile, investigations have also been opened in additional cases of criminal misconduct which resulted in the death of innocent Palestinians, the most prominent one case in which an IDF shelling of a UNRWA school which killed some 20 Palestinians. Another case in which a bound Palestinian was beaten, and another in which soldiers fired on a Palestinian ambulance, are also being investigated. Operation Protective Edge was the third and bloodiest round of fighting since late 2008 between Israel and the Islamic terror group Hamas that rules Gaza. Some 2,200 people were killed on the Palestinian side and 72 on the Israeli side.

The lawyer for one of the three charged with looting said in response that the evidence does not unequivocally support the indictment: "This is a good soldier with no past disciplinary record who was sent to defend his country and risked his life. The decision to charge him is bizarre in light of the fact that he was unaware he was committing an offense at the time."

A new report by DCIP (Defense for Children International-Palestine) titled Operation Protective Edge: A War Waged On Gaza's Children, displayed documented events proving that that Israel has deliberately murdered Palestinian children in its last offensive on Gaza last summer.According to the report, the number of children killed in the last summer offensive on Gaza hit 535, a majority of them under the age 12. Another 3,400 children were injured - over 1,000 maimed for life. They need vital medical care unavailable because of Israel's lawless siege - ongoing aggression by any standard with full US-led Western support.Operation Protective Edge was the sixth Israeli military offensive on Gaza in the past eight years, and raised the number of children killed in assaults on Gaza to 1,097 since 2006. Between December 2008 and January 2009 Israeli forces killed at least 353 children, as well as a further 33 children in November 2012.According to the report, Israel considers all civilians legitimate targets. However, international law calls killing them a war crime.DCIP's report said that "2014 was a year that brought violence, fear and loss (to Gaza)." The Israeli military offensive" lasting 51 days from early July to late August killed about 530 Palestinian children. Nearly 3,400 other children were wounded - many from illegal terror weapons. Over 2,200 Palestinians died - mostly defenseless civilians."Investigations undertaken by (DCIP) into Palestinian child fatalities during Operation Protective Edge found overwhelming and repeated evidence of international humanitarian law violations committed by Israeli forces. These included direct attacks on children, and indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilian homes, schools, and residential neighborhoods."The report included stories and testimonies from witnesses of the war in Gaza, documenting targeting places that should have been provided children with shelter and safety were not immune from attacks from Israeli forces."Missiles fired from Israeli drones and warplanes, artillery shelling, and shrapnel scattered by explosions killed children in their homes, on the street as they fled from attacks with their families, and as they sought shelter from the bombardment in schools."One of many examples affected Rawya Joudeh and four of her five children. An Israeli drone attack murdered them in cold blood - "as they played together" in the family's Jabalia refugee camp yard.Around half the number of children Israel killed came from attacks on residential buildings. A nighttime and ground assault on the residential Gaza City Shuja'iyya neighborhood killed 27 children. It injured at least 29 others.The report stated that Israeli occupation forces are "regularly implicated in serious, systematic and institutionalized human rights violations against Palestinian children living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory."The report looked back at the Israeli military offensive known as Operation Summer Rains, between June 28 and September 30, 2006, around "289 Palestinians were killed, of whom 65 per cent were children, and over 1,261 injured in the Gaza Strip, of whom 189 were children."Results show that Israeli military "incursions and shelling as well as direct military attacks have damaged school and health facilities." Nearly eight years later, by simply updating the figures in these statements, the same language could be used in the Secretary-General's next annual report to detail the situation for Palestinian children in 2015.Evidence of Israel high crimes in the report was completely overwhelming. It shows repetitive unnaccounted aggression against Palestinian children. DCIP called on an immdeiate end to the current regime of collective punishment, targeted assassinations, and regular military offensives, the situation for Gaza's children (and all illegally occupied Palestinians is) guaranteed to further deteriorate."View Full PDF Report Here Defense for Children International Palestine is an independent, local Palestinian child rights organization based in Ramallah dedicated to defending and promoting the rights of children living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. For over 20 years, DCIP investigated, documented and exposed grave human rights violations against children; held Israeli and Palestinian authorities accountable to universal human rights principles; and advocated at the international and national levels to advance access to justice and protection for children. They also provide direct legal aid to children in distress.